Again - I might be asking a silly question.. so forgive me ahead of time.

On my weight loss journey so far - I have been suffering from chronic hip pain for the last 3 years. It was so bad last time, that it stopped me from exercising. This time, I've been fighting it with motrin and such, and have managed to stay active now for nearly 5 weeks! (I know it seems short... I'm happy - it's the longest that I've managed to stick with a good long routine!)

My left foot turns inward - it actually seems to curve inward before the ankle, and I walk on the outer side of it. I consider my right leg fairly normal. Besides the funky inward twist, I think that my left leg is shorter than my right one! When I'm on the treadmill, bike, Precor AMT thing, I notice that I'm favoring one side. If I don't... I'll start veering off the treadmill (really funny to see! The person on the treadmill next to me thinks that I'm going to fall over on them!). On the bike, I am literally twisted to the side and sitting on one bun! : P

Whatever the case, it causes me pain - and as I get older (I'm only 29!) it causes me more pain.

I did go to the doctor - the first time, the doctor said... it's bursitis, and gave me a shot at the hip of some sort of antisteroidal. Did absolutely nothing but leave me with a sore butt on the side. Did nothing. Went back to the doctor. Doctor 2, thought it might be ovary based, and it did turn out that I had PCOS. Been treated for that - did nothing for the hip pain. That was above the hip. He saw blood pooling on the side of the hip though - some sort of bleeding of some type - but didn't know where it was coming from... nothing came of that.

Doctor #3 *sigh*

MRI showed slight synovial fluid leak on the left side, and he saw the curve of my leg/foot. Sent me to the pod-doctor. Pod gave me orthotics -- which even after months, was causing my foot to be sore. The best thing that I did was get new Brooks shoes at a good outfit. Best investment ever. However, at this point, which is several months later, I only wear the orthotics when I am NOT exercising, because they hurt so bad! (Note that I did remove the inserts before putting the orthotics in.)

Well.. after this long story! (Sorry everyone) - I guess I want to know.. if anyone else has run into anything similar? What was the treatment that was looked at? And did it work?

I can even feel it right now - it doesn't hurt, but it's more of an irritation...and irritations 12 hours a day... start to wear at you!

Thanks for listening! You are all a wonderful group, and really have kept me going with your daily inspiration!

The first thing I would think of with one leg shorter than the other or pulling offsides like that is to see a chiropractor for an eval, and see what he/she says. My sister had that with one leg being noticably shorter, and for her, it was muscles pulling/cramping due to some disc compression in her lower back. A combo of regular chiropractic adjustments and massage therapy really helps her.

I don't know if that's what's going on with you, but I think it would be worth a visit.

I have had something similar with my right hip and would urge you to find a physical therapist (since it seems all other diagnoses are out). I was in pain for over two years. After two years, I finally had an MRI that showed a labral tear and fluid cyst in my right hip. The orthopedic couldn't do anything for it. My doc decided to try physical therapy. Turns out the tear and cyst weren't what was even causing the pain, but muscle/tendon/ligaments that were tight and my back not being aligned properly (causing all the muscles etc to be tight). Before I started PT I couldn't walk more than 1 block without feeling pain and now I am back to jogging and running. As far as insurance goes, you may need your doctor to write you a prescription for physical therapy but it shouldn't be hard to get your doc on board since nothing else helped. Good luck to you!

Oh and also I would limp because my "right leg felt shorter than the left". Well it wasn't shorter, but all the muscles at my hip were SO tight, that the leg was just pulled way up into my hip further than the left one. Once my PT worked on the muscles, everything evened back out.

Your orthotic shouldn't be hurting you. I agree with MariaMaria that it doesn't fit properly (either that or it isn't the right solution for you). My SO has bowed legs (which means he walks on the outside of both feet and, even when he stands with his legs together, he cannot make his knees touch) and has orthotics to correct the problem and they really work. They are not in any way painful for him to wear and, if he didn't wear them, he would have severe back pain. So I would go back to the doctor that gave you the orthotic and tell him it isn't helping.

Have you tried swimming? Since it would not require you to put any weight on your leg, it might be easier for you than the various cardio you are doing now.

Also, I'm not a doctor so take this for the amateur advice that it is, but I think that the more you favor your leg, the worse the problem is going to get. Favoring it allows the muscles that would keep your foot/leg properly aligned to atrophy even further and strengthens the muscles that are pulling it out of alignment. When you find yourself favoring the leg, you might want to concentrate on trying to bring it back into alignment even if it means that you can't exercise as long as you would if you favored the leg.

Thanks for the helpful thoughts! I was wondering whether I should just stop complaining to the doctor before all this. Now I can go to the doctor, at least armed with some sort of thoughts. Mod, I really have been considering PT - we have it here right at the university!

I will get those orthotics changed out. They are just too sore to be doing much of anything in.